Supporters of Planned Parenthood dressed as characters from The Handmaid’s Tale, hold a rally as they protest the US Senate Republicans’ healthcare bill outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, June 27, 2017. Similar protests have cropped up in recent months. (Photo: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

In a solemn and visually stunning protest aimed at Vice President Mike Pence on Thurdsay night in Denver, more than one hundred women — dressed in costumes out of Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel A Handmaid’s Tale — marched and spoke out against the Republican Party’s relentless attack on women’s right and reproductive choice.

“We thought Ronald Reagan was bad enough with the religious right and Focus on the Family,” Kathy Partridge, one of the women protesters, told the Boulder Daily Camera. “That is what inspired the book. But that was nothing like Mike Pence.”

Stay in the loop

Never miss the news and analysis you care about.

Optional Member Code

Your Email

The protest comes as Republicans in the House this week announced hearings for a bill that would make it illegal for doctors to perform abortions after only 6 weeks, earlier than most women even know they are pregnant. That comes after the House, in fact, passed a similar ban for abortion after 20 weeks. The GOP leadership in the Senate has said the 20-week ban will get a vote, but hasn’t specified when.

With Pence in town for a state GOP fundraiser, local activist Katie Farnan, a member of Indivisible Front Range which helped organized the rally, said the agenda the vice president and his party represent must be challenged.

“It’s a scary thought, thinking someone like Mike Pence is dead set on taking away the rights of women,” Farnan said. “We stand against discrimination of any kind, and women shouldn’t be relegated to the second class.”

Subscribe to Truthout’s daily newsletter and never miss a story. We’ll send you the top news, analysis and commentary from Truthout’s reporters and leading progressive thinkers, as well as the best reprints from other independent news sources.